Pastor Steven J.

Cole
Flagstaff Christian Fellowship
123 S. Beaver Street
Flagstaff, Arizona 86001
www.fcfonline.org

WHAT TO DO WHEN EVIL PREVAILS

Malachi 2:17-3:6

By

Steven J. Cole

September 21, 2003

© Steven J. Cole, 2003

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture

Quotations are from the New American
Standard Bible, Updated Edition
© The Lockman Foundation
September 21, 2003
Malachi Lesson 7

What to Do When Evil Prevails

Malachi 2:17-3:6
We all wrestle with the difficult age-old questions, “Why do
the wicked prosper?” and “Why do the righteous suffer?” It is es-
pecially hard when you have done right and you get penalized,
while the guy who did wrong got ahead. You were praying and
counting on God’s promises, but things did not turn out the way
you had expected. It seems as if God did not even hear your pray-
ers. But the guy who scoffs at God is doing great. You begin to
wonder, “Why follow God when all I get is trials? If there is a God
of justice in heaven, why doesn’t He do something about all the
injustice in the world? Is it worth it to follow the Lord?”
Many of the Jewish people in Malachi’s day were struggling
with this problem. They were under the thumb of the Medo-
Persian Empire, which was godless and yet prosperous. Many Jews
had become disappointed with God. He had not done for them
what they had hoped. They grumbled, “If He is the God of justice,
why do we see all of this injustice in the world?” Some had even
slipped into cynical agnosticism, doubting that a just God even
exists. Malachi shows them (and us) what to do when evil seems to
be winning:
When evil prevails, we must not challenge, but trust in and
obey the God who sends His Messiah to judge the earth.
The chapter break is misplaced here, in that 2:17, the peoples’
complaint, goes with 3:1-6, which is God’s answer.
1. When evil prevails and God seems to delay, we are prone
to challenge His justice (2:17).
Their disappointment with God as they saw the trials of His
people and the prosperity of the wicked had led many of the Jews
to think that morals do not matter. They thought, “There’s no cor-
relation between obedience to God and blessing in this life. So we
may as well live for all the good times and good things we can get.”
The prophets had predicted a glorious future for Israel. But
here they were, back in the land for over 100 years after the captiv-
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ity, and things were not all that glorious. Israel was still under for-
eign domination. She was not the center of the earth, with the na-
tions flocking to Jerusalem with their wealth. The old folks were
not sitting in the streets watching the children play securely The
land was not yielding abundant produce. Just a hundred years be-
fore, Zechariah had prophesied that all of these conditions would
come about. But here they were, and none of his prophecies about
the glory of Israel had materialized. They weren’t even close!
The rebuilt temple was a disappointment to many. It didn’t
compare to the former glory of Solomon’s temple (Ezra 3:12-13).
Haggai (2:7-9) had prophesied that the latter glory of this temple
would be greater than the former temple, but there was no evi-
dence of that yet. Because of these disappointments with God’s
promises, many were voicing their skepticism and even daring to
question if a God of justice exists. Some even mocked God, saying
that He delights in evil people and calls them good!
I hope that you’ve never said such things, but I know that you
have thought such things. We all have. Maybe you’re struggling with
these issues now. You thought that when you trusted Christ, He
would give you an abundant life and relief from some major prob-
lems. Instead, you seem to have more problems than you did be-
fore! You didn’t use to struggle against sin, but now it’s a daily bat-
tle that you often lose. You didn’t use to worry about pleasing God
with your use of time and money, but now you feel guilty for
squandering those things. In fact, now you feel guilty about things
that you didn’t even know were sin before you became a Christian.
You’ve prayed a lot, but rather than getting better, your problems
seem to grow worse. You wonder, “What difference does it make if
I follow the Lord or not? Where is the God of justice?”
Even if you have not verbalized these thoughts, God knows
about them. Malachi says that such words weary the Lord! He is
using human language to apply to God, since there is a sense in
which Almighty God cannot be weary (Isa. 40:28). But there is an-
other sense in which we can try God’s patience (Isa. 7:13) and
“wear Him out,” much like a parent gets weary of hearing his
child’s constant complaining. So we need to check our thoughts
when they run in this direction. We should pay attention to God’s
answer to this difficult problem of what to do when evil prevails.

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2. God’s answer to the problem of evil is to send His Mes-
siah to judge the earth (3:1-6).
God has a plan to right every wrong and punish all evildoers.
That plan centers in His Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will
suddenly come into His temple. “But,” Malachi asks, “are you sure
that you want Him to come?” “Who can endure the day of His
coming? And who can stand when He appears?” (3:2). It’s easy to
say, “Won’t it be great when Jesus comes again?” But if our per-
sonal and family lives are not right with God, we will be terrified at
Jesus’ coming, because He is holy and He will judge everyone.
Although the coming of the Messiah is sudden, it is not with-
out warning:
A. God graciously sends His messenger to prepare the way
for His Messiah (3:1a).
Malachi is referring here to Isaiah’s prophecy, “A voice is
calling, ‘Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make smooth
in the desert a highway for our God’” (Isa. 40:3). This was a
prophecy of John the Baptist, the forerunner whose ministry God
used to prepare the way for Jesus Christ. John’s father prophesied
of him while he was yet a baby, “And you, child, will be called the
prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to
prepare His ways; to give to His people the knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins, …” (Luke 1:76-77). Jesus applied
Malachi’s prophecy to John (Matt. 11:10).
Malachi (4:5) predicts that Elijah will come before the coming
of the great and terrible day of the Lord. The disciples asked Jesus,
“Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” Jesus
answered, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things; but I say to
you, that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him,…”
Matthew adds, “Then the disciples understood that He had spoken
to them about John the Baptist” (Matt. 17:10-13).
Thus Malachi’s prophecy has a double fulfillment, as many
prophecies do. John the Baptist was the messenger who came in
the spirit and power of Elijah, to prepare the way for the Lord’s
first coming. Before Jesus’ second coming, there will be two wit-
nesses who powerfully bear witness (Rev. 11:1-12). It is likely that
one of these witnesses will be Elijah himself.
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 The imagery of preparing the way before the Lord came from
the custom of clearing the road and preparing a town for the visit
of the king. Before the king traveled, he sent out messengers who
proclaimed his coming. They didn’t have road crews back then to
keep the highways in good shape. So when the townspeople heard
that the king was coming, they would go out and fill in the ruts and
potholes, and clear away rocks and debris. They got everything
ready for the coming of their king.
God in His grace does not come upon us unannounced. If He
did, He would often find our lives in shambles. We get sloppy
about sin. There are potholes and ruts, with rocks strewn all over
the place. So He graciously sends His messenger to proclaim, “The
Lord is coming! Get ready! Fill in the potholes of sin! Clear out the
rocks of self-centeredness and pride. Repent and bring forth fruit
in keeping with repentance” (see Matt. 3:2, 8). Although I am a far,
far lesser voice than John the Baptist or Elijah, I hope that you will
listen when I tell you, “Prepare yourself! Get ready! The King is
coming!” As 1 John 3:3 tells us, “Everyone who has this hope fixed
on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
But after the warning of God’s messengers,
B. God’s Messiah will come suddenly, both to purify His
people and to judge the wicked (3:1b-6).
When Malachi says (3:1), “The Lord whom you seek” and
“the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight,” he is using
irony. In effect, he is saying, “You’re asking, ‘Where is the God of
justice? We want to see Him.’ So, you’re looking for Him? Let me
tell you, He is coming. In fact, He is coming suddenly! But you
need to ask, ‘Can I endure the day of His coming? Can I stand
when He appears?’ Because when He comes, He is going to clean
house on Israel and He is going to judge all the wicked. So if you
really seek Him, you’d better get ready to meet Him!”
You may wonder, “How can the Lord’s coming be sudden
when it has been announced by His messenger?” Let me answer
with an illustration. Some of you recall when Mount St. Helens
blew its top in 1980. Geologists knew that something was brewing.
They could see the bulge on the side of the mountain and they

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could measure the increasingly threatening tremors. They warned
the local residents to get out of there.
But did they leave? Some did, but others didn’t. There was
one old man named Harry Truman who had lived there for dec-
ades. When the newscasters interviewed him, he said that the
mountain had been there for centuries. He didn’t believe that it
would blow up, so he wasn’t going to move. But suddenly, one
morning the mountain exploded. Harry Truman and others like
him who had ignored the warnings perished. Destruction came on
them suddenly.
You are hearing me say now, “The Lord is coming back sud-
denly to judge the earth. None who ignore this warning will es-
cape!” Do you say to yourself, “Yeah, sure! I know that Jesus is
coming, but He hasn’t come for almost 2,000 years. There’s no
sense getting all worked up about it. I’ve got time before I need to
repent.” But remember, “The Lord of glory always comes as a thief
in the night to those who sleep in their sins” (Schmieder, cited by
C. F. Keil, Commentary on the Old Testament, Minor Prophets [Eerd-
mans], p. 458).
Malachi shows us who this coming Messiah is and what He
will do, first with regard to His true people, and then with those
who claim to be His people, but practice wickedness.
1) God’s Messiah is God in human flesh (3:1b).
Sometimes critics say that the Bible never claims that Jesus
Christ is God. That is utter nonsense! Verse 1 is about as strong a
statement on the deity of Christ as anyone could write. The speaker
here is “the Lord of hosts,” who says that He is sending His mes-
senger (John the Baptist) “before Me.” Whom did John go before?
Jesus! Jesus is one with Me, that is, God!
He is also called here, “the messenger of the covenant.” This
phrase occurs only here, but it refers to Jesus, by whose blood the
eternal covenant of salvation was ratified and mediated to His peo-
ple (Heb. 13:20). He is called “the Lord, whom you seek,” who was
also identified in 2:17 as “the God of justice.” The Hebrew word
for “Lord” is Adon. When used with the article, as it is here, it al-
ways refers to God (A. R. Fausset, A Commentary Critical, Experi-
mental, and Practical on the Old and New Testaments, with Robert Jami-
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eson and David Brown [Eerdmans], pp. 720-721; Walter Kaiser,
Malachi, God s Unchanging Love [Baker], p. 81). (See Exod. 23:17;
34:23; Isa. 1:24; 3:1; 10:16, 33; Dan. 9:17). Also, the text says that
the Lord will come into His temple. The temple belongs only to
God, not to any man.
Yet at the same time, this messenger who is the Lord is distin-
guished from the speaker, the Lord of hosts. The language is simi-
lar to Psalm 110:1, “The Lord [Yahweh] says to my Lord [Adonai],
‘Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for
Your feet.’” Jesus used this psalm to confound His enemies (Matt.
22:42-45). The Messiah is clearly David’s son, and yet David calls
Him “Lord.” How can this be?
This is the mystery of the Trinity: God is one God and yet He
exists eternally in three persons, each of whom is fully God and yet
distinct in personhood. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
are eternally God, and yet the Father can send the Son and the Son
can send the Spirit. Each is a distinct Person, not just a different
manifestation of God. Yet they are not three gods, but one God. In
our text, the point is that the messenger of the covenant (Messiah)
who comes suddenly into His temple is God.
2) God’s Messiah will purify His covenant people and
judge the wicked (3:2-6).
Note that there is a difference in God’s judgment here. With
some, the Lord acts as a refiner’s fire and a fuller’s soap. The intent
of both of these treatments was to purify, not to destroy. But with
others, the Lord will draw near for judgment, bear swift witness
against them, and (as implied in 3:6 and stated in 4:1) consume
them. The difference between the two groups is that the former is
the object of God’s unchanging covenant love (3:6, 1:2), whereas
the latter is not. The former are Jews who truly believe in God, but
need to be cleansed of their sins. The latter are Jews by birth, Jews
outwardly, but they do not fear God and so they ought to fear His
judgment (see Rom. 2:28-29; 9:6-8).
As with many Old Testament prophecies, these verses blend
together the two comings of Jesus Christ. He came the first time to
seek and to save the lost by offering Himself as the perfect and
final sacrifice of God for sinners (Heb. 10:1-18). He will come the

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second time to deal out retribution to those who do not know God
and who do not obey the gospel (2 Thess. 1:8).
All whom He saves, He purifies so that they may present to
Him “offerings in righteousness,” that is, the true worship of
yielding our lives as living sacrifices to Him (Rom. 12:1-2). We of-
fer to Him the sacrifice of praise and thankfulness, along with do-
ing good and sharing (Heb. 13:15-16).
The purifying process is often painful, as the analogy of fire
implies. The Oriental silversmith would heat the silver until the
impurities, the dross, bubbled to the surface. He would keep
skimming it off until he could see his face clearly reflected in it.
Even so, the Lord uses the fires of affliction to produce purity in
His people, so that His image is reflected in us (Heb. 12:3-11).
But with others, the purpose of the fire is not to purify, but to
destroy (3:5, 6; 4:1). These people wanted God to judge Israel’s
pagan neighbors, but they refused to judge their own sins. God
gives a representative list of sins, each of which was a breaking of
His law and a cause for judgment. “Sorcerers” refers to those who
use any sort of occult practices. “Adulterers,” of course, refers to
those who are unfaithful to their marriage vows. “Those who swear
falsely” covers everything from bending the truth in our personal
relationships to perjury under oath in court. “Those who oppress
the wage earner, the widow, and the orphan” and “those who turn
aside the alien” refer to the wealthy and powerful who take advan-
tage of those weaker than they are. At the bottom of all of these
sins is, they do not fear God.
It is of utmost importance that you know for certain that you
are in the group that the Lord purifies and refines, not in the group
that He consumes in judgment! How can you know? First, is your
trust in Jesus Christ and His death on the cross as your only hope
for forgiveness of your sins? If it is, then, second, you know that
God has changed your heart. You are submitting to the Lord in
trials, trusting that He will work these things together for good
(Rom. 8:28). You strive to be holy because you fear God (2 Cor.
7:1). You offer to the Lord sacrifices of praise that come out of the
gratitude of a heart that He has cleansed. To sum up,

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3. Our response to God’s promised Messiah should be to
trust Him and obey His Word.
God’s promise to send His Messiah is His answer to those
who struggle with the problem of the prosperity of the wicked and
the suffering of the righteous. He will judge the wicked. The trials
of the righteous are His purifying fires, designed to develop His
holiness in them for His glory and their good.
But, the remarkable thing about God’s answer is that He did
not send His Messiah in the lifetimes of the people in Malachi’s
day! It would be over 400 years before John the Baptist began cry-
ing out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord”! Mean-
while, the Jews had to endure four long centuries without a true
prophet. They had to endure the oppressive rule of the wicked An-
tiochus Epiphanes, as well as the Roman occupation. Since Mes-
siah’s first coming, God’s people have endured 20 long centuries of
trials, while they watch the wicked prosper. Mockers say, “Where is
the promise of His coming?” (2 Pet. 3:4). How should we then live
in this evil world? Three brief words of encouragement:
A. Trust God by guarding your attitude when you go
through trials.
If you find yourself doubting whether God loves you or
whether He really will punish the wicked, get alone in His presence.
Read Psalm 73, where the author was struggling with the same is-
sue, until he went into the sanctuary of God. There he realized,
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my
heart and my portion forever” (Ps. 73:26). Read Hebrews 12, which
assures us that God’s discipline stems from His love for us as His
children. His aim is that we might share His holiness and enjoy the
peaceful fruit of righteousness (Heb. 12:10-11). Trust Him!
B. Obey God by holding to His absolute moral standards.
The people in Malachi’s day were saying, “Everyone who does
evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delights in them”
(2:17). In other words, morals do not matter, because God doesn’t
immediately zap the wicked; in fact, they seem to prosper. We live
in a day when even the church is joining the culture in abandoning
God’s moral absolutes. But our holy God does not change (3:6)!
His moral standards do not shift with the winds of the times. If His
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Word calls something sin, then it still is sin! When someone breaks
God’s moral standards and seems to be doing just fine, don’t be
deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap
(Gal. 6:7-8).
C. Obey God by developing compassion for evil people who
need His grace.
These people wanted God to zap the prosperous, wicked pa-
gans, but Malachi adroitly shows that by pointing their finger at
others, they had three fingers pointing back at themselves! The fact
is, we all deserve God’s judgment. If He has shown us mercy, it is
the epitome of self-centeredness to say, “Now that I’m saved, God,
You can judge all the pagans out there!” It’s as if I had been in a
shipwreck and was drowning with many others. God came along
and pulled me into the lifeboat. I no sooner get in than I say, “Let’s
head for shore. Why are we sitting out here in these waves? I’m
cold and want to get dried off. Let’s go!”
Conclusion
When you see evil prevailing and you long for that “new
heavens and new earth, in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet.
3:13), remember God’s reason for delaying judgment: “The Lord is
not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient
toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to
repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). Ask God to give you His heart of compas-
sion for sinners, so that He can use you to reach out to them with
the good news of Messiah’s first coming and the warning of His
second coming. When evil prevails, don’t challenge God. Trust
Him and obey His Word. In His time, His promise to send His
Messiah to judge the earth will be fulfilled.
Discussion Questions
1. How should a Christian process disappointments with God?
2. How would you answer a person who says, “My God is a God
of love; He doesn’t judge anyone”?
3. Is there a direct connection between a believer’s trials and
some specific sin in his life? Give biblical support.
4. Is it wrong to complain to God? How can we be honest about
our struggles, and yet not sinfully challenge God?
Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2003, All Rights Reserved.
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